TO: WOLF@CNN.COM
FROM: JOHNSNOTES
RE: BETTER DEBATE QUESTIONS
Since your staff seemed to have problems drafting and/or selecting interesting and relevant debate questions, I decided to sit down and give myself 30 minutes to draft some. (I cheated in that I had internet access.) Included at the end is a “gotcha” question for each candidate since I know you may be into them. Santorum’s is a bit lame because the whole home schooling thing is just borrr-ing.
- To any/all candidates: this week, economists noted that the recession in the UK was now threatening to outspan the Great Depression there. The measures taken by the current government were well publicized and somewhat controversial - how, if at all, does the U.K.’s experience influence what policies you would advocate upon taking office?
- Staying in Europe and without reference to anything which could or should be done in the US, is there any specific action which you believe that the European Central Bank should be taking to stem the eurozone crisis?
- Moving to North Korea, is the current Obama administration policy towards North Korea sufficient? If no, or if you were about to say “they have no policy” - summarize what yours would be today.
- Do you believe higher education costs too much? If so, apart from general improvements to the U.S. economy writ large, what - if anything - would you advocate doing to make college more affordable?
- Do you believe that the filibuster rule in the U.S. Senate should be limited in any way or done away with in total?
- Do you believe that the so-called “reconciliation rules” in the Senate for budget-related measures should be limited in any way?
- Apart from general improvements in the economy overall, do you believe that the government has a role to play in helping homeowners avert foreclosure or should the market be allowed to work its way through foreclosures with no new government interventions or programs?
- If you agree to make measures suggested by Rep. Paul concerning transparency in the Federal Reserves a litmus test for any Fed Chairman you nominate?
- Should there be any limits, apart from the impeachable offenses specified in the Constitution, upon the federal judiciary?
- Do you believe that Social Security benefits should be means-tested?
- Hollywood has been very open in supporting the SOPA Act as it’s been working it’s way through Congress. The White House has indicated that it’s not satisfied with some of its provisions. Do you support SOPA in its current form?
- Under what circumstances would you envision asking the Congress to declare war?
- Governor Romney - did you pay any federal income taxes in 2009? OR Do you place any conditions on the investments made in blind trust by your trustee?
- Speaker Gingrich - do you believe that there is a legitimate continuing role for the mortgage GSE’s in today’s economy? If not, when did you reach that conclusion?
- Representative Paul - your secretary is reported in the Wall Street Journal as saying that you actively reviewed and signed off on the controversial newsletters from your office in the 1980s. I understand that you may contest that account and you should feel free to do so here if you wish - but in any event - do you reject their content? [Follow up if necessary] And if you haven’t reviewed them, why haven’t you done so by now?
- Senator Santorum - you have said that you wish that the Congress had funded the Medicare Part D benefit when it was passed. How would you have proposed to pay for that benefit?
Granted - these questions might strike some as wonky (reconcilation for instance). But, these are the issues where it would help to get candidates on the record because, frankly, they end up mattering later. Maybe some centrists would have liked to know that President Obama was cool with reconciliation. Same with President Bush and tax cuts. It was a method used to pass HUGE pieces of legislation over the past 10-odd years. Never discussed.
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